POLICE FOR SAMOA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19858, 31 January 1928, Page 8

POLICE FOR SAMOA.

The excellent fooling of Mr. Holland over the sending of constables to Samoa richly entitles him to the plaudits of those with a taste for this sort of thing. Politics at best tend to become rather a dull business, and in the Parliamentary recess, particularly the recess preceding a final session, it is very difficult to prevent their becoming deadly serious. It is not easy, of course, even for so a-complished a humourist as Mr. Holland, apt to turn the laugh cheerily upOn himself when all other subjects fail, to wax facetious about constables. Still, W. S. Gilbert succeeded, so why should Henry Holland tail 'I The point of the joke may need a little explanation to those not accustomed to the subtleties of this kind of humour. For their sakes the effort is worth making. The population of Western Samoa, in round figures, is 40,000--' about", 37,000 Samoans, 1000 Chinese and the rest Europeans, about 400 of them being of pure European blood. Its police force numbers, as a rule, between HO and 35, according to circumstances—over some of which the administration has little control, arbitrary and tyrannical as Mr. Holland declares it to be, on his most solemn assurance. Six constables, to be quite exact, are to be sent. Now, to the "tough-minded," as a certain celebrated psychologist might describe some taking note of the figures, this addition to the force may seem merely silly. How could so small a body, whatever the size and weight of its individual members, turn the tide of 30,000 or 35.000 revolters against law and order into restraining channels —not to say prisons, for Samoa has but one,, and that a training-farm of only 500 acres'? It simply could not be done —and yet that is to be their task, according to Mr. Holland, who is sure the whole group is seething with incendiary revolt. But here comes Mr. Holland's joke. The imported policemen will not have to deal with that tremendous host, for the Administrator is arranging _to send the turbulent revolutionaries, in large batches, out of the group, after Messrs. Nelson, Smyth and Gurrl Wholesale deportation is contemplated, says he. How he knows does not appear. That does not matter. Humourists are entitled to some license as to facts. But the humour of the situation lies in this—that, by the time the constables arrive, they will find little to do. Hence Mr. Holland's description of this addition to the force as a "big stick." It is enough to set more than Samoans "rocking with laughter."